'Bronx Tale' Finds the Good in a Good Fella

"A Bronx Tale"

Written by Chazz Palminteri; directed by Jerry Zaks; set design by James Noone; lighting design by Paul Gallo; original music and sound design by John Gromada; production stage manager, James Harker; wardrobe provided by Isaia

Starring Chazz Palminteri

Performances: Now through April 5, The Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston

Tickets: Ticketmaster at 800-982-2787, BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com, or at the theater box office

Broadway, film and television actor Chazz Palminteri's autobiographical one-man show A Bronx Tale neither perpetuates nor debunks the Italian mob stereotypes that have spawned a long and prosperous movie genre from which he himself has earned considerable success. Instead, the accomplished writer and performer portrays both the good and the bad - and at times the ugly - in the lives of the wiseguys and goodfellas who populated his Bronx neighborhood during the 1960s when he was an impressionable young boy and teen.

Palminteri tells his tale through his own searching eyes, playing his youthful self as well as 18 key figures from his past. The ease with which Palminteri transforms from one character to another, frequently carrying on conversations amongst several at a time, is positively staggering. A quick change in posture, a subtle twist to the voice, a quirky facial tick or gesture or a penetrating look is all it takes to summon a host of colorful role models and anti-heroes who fill and animate the stage.

The most important of the many influences in the actor's early life are his father, Lorenzo, a blue-collar New York City bus driver, and Sonny, the neighborhood Don who takes little Calogero Lorenzo (Chazz's given name) under his protective wing. "C" as he would later be dubbed by the paternalistic mobster earned his stripes by refusing to rat on Sonny when he witnessed a fatal shooting. That one coincidental act - what Palminteri's morally upright father called "a good thing for a bad man" - earned "C" a ringside seat in the dangerous but heady arena of organized crime.

Throughout A Bronx Tale "C" struggles to find his way between the distorted lessons about honor, loyalty, respect and power he learns under Sonny's tutelage and the simple truths his father shares with him about hard work, honesty and righteousness. Both men, however, feel strongly that "C" must not waste his future. Both want him to graduate from high school, go to college, use his God given talents, and make something of himself beyond the mean streets that have shaped their very different lives. It is that common ground that provides the young Chazz with the inspiration to make the right choices. The strength and love of both men, despite their dramatically different approaches to the world, helped Palminteri become the man he is today.

In his writing and performing, Chazz strikes a poignant balance between harsh reality and fond reminiscences. He neither candy coats nor glorifies the violence, and he presents himself as the neutral canvas upon which Sonny and his father lay their influential brushstrokes. He is also very funny when bringing vivid characters like Frankie Coffee Cake, JoJo the Whale, Crazy Mario and Phil the Peddler to life. Through wonderfully descriptive language and physically inspired acting, Palminteri creates the sights, sounds and even smells of the old neighborhood. You can almost picture the raucous crap game in the Chez Joey bar, the bloody shootings and gang wars in the middle of the street, the doo wop singers snapping their fingers and talking about girls under the lamppost, or Chazz's shrewd but kind mother stirring sauce with a broken wooden spoon in the kitchen of her walk-up apartment five floors above the East 187th and Belmont Avenue stoop.

In the end, A Bronx Tale is a story of thanks for two very different father figures. Neither romantic nor jaded, it is a reminder that there are good and bad influences affecting all of us. What we choose to do with our talents in the face of those opposing forces is what ultimately matters.

PHOTOS of Chazz Palminteri by Joan Marcus